Gaza faces deepening crisis as aid stocks dwindle

The United Nations on Wednesday warned that escalating hostilities and access constraints in Gaza are exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis, displacing hundreds of thousands and depriving civilians of shelter, food and medicine.

More than 500,000 people are reported to have been newly displaced since 18 March, many of them uprooted multiple times due to ongoing military operations across the Gaza Strip.

Conditions on the ground are deteriorating rapidly, with critical shortages in basic supplies and growing malnutrition, especially among children.

“Tents are no longer available for distribution,” UN spokesperson Stéphanie Tremblay told journalists at a regular news briefing in New York.

She noted that families in Bani Suhaila, Khan Younis Governorate, recently received only minimal quantities of blankets and tarpaulins. Displaced populations in Khan Younis reported overcrowded shelters and a dire lack of food, water, and medicine.

Impact on children

Children are among the worst affected. In March, the number of children receiving supplementary feeding declined by more than two-thirds, according to humanitarian partners, raising concerns of acute malnutrition amid collapsing health services.

In addition, hospital operations are further strained by limited access to medical supplies.

“Humanitarians are finding it increasingly difficult to operate as no aid has entered Gaza for now. We are now in the seventh week of this and as military operations expand,” said Ms. Tremblay, adding that Israeli authorities continue to deny planned coordinated missions.

“Today, only two out of six planned humanitarian movements that were coordinated with the Israeli authorities, were facilitated. The remaining four were denied, including one mission to retrieve fuel from Rafah, which as you can imagine is urgently needed.”

Despite insecurity and access limitations, humanitarian organizations continue efforts to help vulnerable families. Community kitchens across Gaza prepare more than one million meals daily, but that remains insufficient for most of the 2.1 million people in the enclave who rely on aid for basic sustenance.